[Beavy]

Hello, ive nearly finished my first web site and need to copy right it. Can I simply put "Copyright ©2008-2012," followed by the name of the website ? Can you please check the dates as I made them up and im not sure if its correct.

~Thanks

[notbanksy]

First off, you should learn the difference between copywriting and copyright. Yes, it's fine to just put ©2011 on your website footer. Anything you create, you automatically own the copyright. There's nothing else you need to do unless someone actually steals your work.

Not sure why you would put next year's date on your copyright notice. Why not just update it annually so that the current year is covered?

[itodd]

Anything that you create can receive automatic copyright (providing that it is covered by copyright laws set by the IPO)

When you create a website you can place a copyright notice on it to let others know that you own the copyright. This is usually done by using the © symbol, name of the copyright owner and the year the work was created.

You cannot claim to own copyright from previous year unless that is the year the work was created.


Everything you need to know about copyright can be found on the IPO website: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy.htm

[Beavy]

Thanks for your help

[Gibson]

notbanksy, on 02 May 2011 - 06:19 PM, said:

Why not just update it annually so that the current year is covered?

You can use php to display the current year. It's a way of getting it to automatically update.

[itodd]

Gibson, on 02 May 2011 - 08:02 PM, said:

You can use php to display the current year. It's a way of getting it to automatically update.

I wrote this code a short while ago, feel free to use it

<?php
/*
 *	www.iaintodd.co.uk
 */
 function copyright($year) {
	if(is_numeric($year) AND is_int($year)) { // Is the year an integer number?
		echo "&copy Copyright ";
		if($year == date(Y)) {
			echo $year;
		}
		else {
			echo $year." - ".date(Y);
		}
	}
	else {echo "Please enter a year as a number"; }
} ?>

and to use it simply do this:

<?php copyright(2011); ?>

This post has been edited by itodd: 02 May 2011 - 08:36 PM

[Sazzad]

Or you could simply just get the date using php and add your personal copyright.

&copy; <?php echo date("Y"); ?> Yoursite

Also if you're located in the US you should read up on this: http://www.copyright...aq-protect.html

[itodd]

Sazzad, on 02 May 2011 - 11:22 PM, said:

Or you could simply just get the date using php and add your personal copyright.

&copy; <?php echo date("Y"); ?> Yoursite

Of course, but my code will keep the year of creation which is one of the the most important factors regarding copyright, documenting when the work was created.

[Lev]

For laziests :

&copy; &ndash; <script type="text/javascript">
var cTime = new Date();
document.write(cTime.getFullYear());
</script>

[Beavy]

This may seem a very nooby question but is there a way to get this to show on all pages to save me copying the code onto every page?

This post has been edited by Beavy: 03 May 2011 - 08:15 AM

[itodd]

If you're using php for your site you could include a footer file with the code it. But you will still have to add the include code to each page